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Version 1 Version 2
After a Gunslinger Cuts Loose, Romney Aides Take Cover Before Talk With a Chair, Clearance From the Top
(about 7 hours later)
TAMPA, Fla. — Clint Eastwood’s rambling and off-color endorsement of Mitt Romney on Thursday seemed to startle and unsettle even the candidate’s own top aides, several of whom made a point of distancing themselves from the decision to put him onstage without a polished script. TAMPA, Fla. — For all the finger-pointing about Clint Eastwood’s rambling conversation with an empty chair on Thursday night, the most bizarre, head-scratching 12 minutes in recent political convention history was set in motion by Mitt Romney himself and made possible by his aides, who had shrouded the actor’s appearance in secrecy.
“Not me,” said an exasperated-looking senior adviser, when asked who was responsible for Mr. Eastwood’s speech. In late-night interviews, aides variously called the speech “strange” and “weird.” One described it as “theater of the absurd.” Mr. Romney privately invited Mr. Eastwood, of “Dirty Harry” fame, to speak after the actor had given him a gravelly, full-throated endorsement at a star-studded fund-raiser at the Sun Valley Resort Lodge in Idaho this summer. “He just made my day. What a guy,” Mr. Romney joked with his donors that night, flanked by the fake log columns of the lodge.
Finger-pointing quickly ensued, suggesting real displeasure and even confusion over the handling of Mr. Eastwood’s performance, which was kept secret until the last minute and offered an off-key message on the night that Mr. Romney accepted the Republican presidential nomination. Thus began an effort by Mr. Romney’s campaign over several weeks to inject a Hollywood-style surprise into the highly scripted, tightly controlled convention where Mr. Romney would formally accept the nomination of the Republican Party to be president.
A senior Republican involved in convention planning said that Mr. Eastwood’s appearance was cleared by at least two of Mr. Romney’s top advisers, Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens. This person said that there had been no rehearsal, to the surprise of the rest of the campaign team. Behind the scenes, Mr. Eastwood’s convention cameo was cleared by Mr. Romney’s top message mavens, Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens, who drew up talking points that Mr. Eastwood included, in his own way. They gave him a time limit and flashed a blinking red light that told him his time was up. He ignored both. The actor’s decision to use a chair as a prop was last-minute, and his own.
But another adviser said that several top aides had reviewed talking points given to Mr. Eastwood, which the campaign had discussed with the actor as recently as a few hours before his appearance. Mr. Eastwood, however, delivered those points in a theatrical, and at times crass, way that caught Romney aides off guard, this person said. Mr. Eastwood even ignored warnings that he had exceeded his time. “The prop person probably thought he was going to sit in it,” a baffled senior aide said on Thursday night.
Mr. Stevens, in an interview, said he would not discuss internal decision making but described Mr. Eastwood’s remarks as improvised. Mr. Eastwood’s rambling and off-color appearance just moments before the biggest speech of Mr. Romney’s life instantly became a Twitter and cable-news sensation, which drowned out much of the usual postconvention analysis that his campaign had hoped to bask in.
“He spoke from the heart with a classic improv sketch which everyone at the convention loved,” Mr. Stevens said. It also startled and unsettled Mr. Romney’s top advisers and prompted a blame game among them. “Not me,” an exasperated-looking senior adviser said when asked who was responsible for Mr. Eastwood’s speech. In interviews, aides called the speech “strange” and “weird.” One described it as “theater of the absurd.”
He called it “an honor that a great American icon would come and talk about the failure of the current president and the promise of the future one.” Ann Romney, who made the rounds of the three network morning shows, hardly pretended that she was happy as she was repeatedly asked about the speech. “I was thrilled for his support,” she said on NBC, trying to be positive. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said on MSNBC that he “cringed” as he sat in the hall during Mr. Eastwood’s performance.
Mr. Eastwood delivered one of the more unusual moments in Republican convention history — a speech in which he pretended to have a sarcasm-filled conversation with President Obama sitting by his side in an empty chair. Initially, there were no plans for Mr. Eastwood to take a chair onstage as a prop. But at the last minute, the actor asked the production staff backstage if he could use one, but did not explain why. “The prop person probably thought he was going to sit in it,” a senior aide said. The speech was a reminder of how fleeting a successful political moment can be, and how carefully staged events can be upset by an unpredictable turn. And it suggested a slip-up inside the button-down, corporate-style headquarters of the Romney campaign in Boston.
“Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you made when you were running for election?” the onetime Dirty Harry said, mumbling to a befuddled crowd of thousands in the convention hall and millions of television viewers. Romney advisers so trusted Mr. Eastwood, 82, that unlike with other speakers, they said they did not conduct rehearsals or insist on a script or communicate guidelines for the style or format of his remarks. For Mr. Eastwood, the convention speech was a bit part in a career that has had its political moments. Angered by zoning laws he did not like, he served one two-year term as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea in California. In 1988, George Bush briefly considered choosing him as his running mate; he picked Dan Quayle instead.
As thousands of “OMG!” tweets started flying, Mr. Eastwood, 82, asked the invisible Mr. Obama why he had not closed the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. During the weeks after Mr. Romney extended the invitation in Idaho, the actor’s role in the convention lineup was kept secret. On the public schedule, his slot was listed as “to be announced.”
“What do you mean, shut up?” he said, continuing to talk to his imaginary companion. A moment later, he stopped again, saying, “What do you want me to tell Mr. Romney?” As the last night of the convention approached, planners tried to keep a lid on the story even as Mr. Eastwood’s name leaked out on the Internet, hoping his appearance would be the good kind of a surprise, not the bad kind.
“If we announced it, it wouldn’t be a mystery anymore,” Mr. Schriefer told reporters, playfully.
Another adviser said that several top aides had reviewed the talking points given to Mr. Eastwood just a few hours before his appearance. They included a request to mention the millions of people who remain unemployed — something Mr. Eastwood did, though he misstated the number.
As actors sometimes do, he improvised.
Instead of reading off a teleprompter — something Mr. Eastwood is said to despise — he pretended to have a sarcasm-filled conversation with President Obama, seated by his side.
“What do you mean, shut up?” Mr. Eastwood said, mumbling to a befuddled audience. A moment later, he stopped again, saying, “What do you want me to tell Mr. Romney?”
“I can’t tell him that. He can’t do that to himself,” Mr. Eastwood said. “You’re getting as bad as Biden.”“I can’t tell him that. He can’t do that to himself,” Mr. Eastwood said. “You’re getting as bad as Biden.”
Leonard Hirshan, Mr. Eastwood’s manager, said the actor was traveling and would not be available for interviews until he started promotional work shortly for his next film, “Trouble With the Curve,” which is set for release by Warner Brothers on Sept. 21. Initially, there were no plans for Mr. Eastwood to take a chair onstage. But at the last minute, the actor asked the production staff backstage if he could use one but did not explain why.
Mr. Hirshan said he had heard a chorus of response since the speech, divided evenly between those supportive and critical. “The more I look at it, the more I appreciate what he did,” said Mr. Hirshan, who added that neither he nor others in Mr. Eastwood’s professional entourage, as far as he knew, were consulted in advance. Had Mr. Eastwood appeared earlier, many fewer people might have noticed. The networks began their hour of convention coverage at 10 p.m. Eastern time, which meant that Mr. Eastwood was the first act of the night for their millions of viewers.
“He does these things for himself,” said Mr. Hirshan, who spoke by telephone on Friday morning. “It’s his private life. He believes in what he’s doing.” He was scheduled to speak for about five minutes but stayed onstage for more than twice as long, throwing off the schedule for Mr. Romney.
  Mr. Stevens, in an interview, said he would not discuss internal decision making, but he said that Mr. Romney was backstage during Mr. Eastwood’s remarks.
The networks began their hour of convention coverage at 10 p.m. Eastern time, which meant  that Mr. Eastwood was the first act of the night for their viewers. He was scheduled to speak for about five minutes but stayed onstage much longer, throwing off the schedule for Mr. Romney, a stickler against tardiness. “He spoke from the heart with a classic improv sketch which everyone at the convention loved,” Mr. Stevens said, calling it “an honor that a great American icon would come and talk about the failure of the current president.”
As Mr. Eastwood ran long, convention producers activated a red light on the camera stand opposite the stage, a signal to nudge speakers to wrap up their remarks. Rush Limbaugh called Mr. Eastwood’s performance “bold.” But other members of the party faithful were not so sure. As they flew home from Tampa on Friday, some delegates grumbled that Mr. Eastwood was a waste of a prime-time slot that might have been better used to feature other speakers or the biographical video of Mr. Romney’s life.
Despite the fuss that the speech created, the campaign insisted that Mr. Romney enjoyed it. Mr. Eastwood is generally liked and respected in Hollywood, where his colleagues often do not agree with his politics. Leonard Hirshan, Mr. Eastwood’s manager, said the actor was traveling and would not be available for interviews.
“I was backstage with him and he was laughing,” Mr. Stevens said. Mr. Hirshan said he had heard a chorus of response since the speech, divided evenly between those supportive and those critical. Mr. Eastwood’s next film, “Trouble With the Curve,” is set for release on Sept. 21.
Aides said Mr. Eastwood does not like teleprompters and was trusted to deliver an on-message endorsement. “He does these things for himself,” Mr. Hirshan said. “It’s his private life. He believes in what he’s doing.”
“He made a last-minute decision to ad-lib, and I don’t think people knew,” said Ari Fleischer, a former adviser to George W. Bush, who said he had spoken with people involved in planning the convention. He suggested that second-guessing of the Romney campaign’s convention presentation was “just the nature of the beast.”

Jeremy W. Peters contributed reporting from Kenner, La., and Michael Cieply from Los Angeles.

Two aides said that Mr. Eastwood had been booked weeks ago and that the expectation was that he would deliver a more standard endorsement, as he did earlier this year in Sun Valley, Idaho.
After that endorsement, Mr. Romney himself asked Mr. Eastwood to come to the convention, one of these people said.
Advisers were quick to point out that Mr. Eastwood mentioned all the points they had agreed upon, including an unemployment figure, but the aides had expected him to address the issues in a more straightforward manner.
As they hopped from party to party late Thursday and early Friday, celebrating the end of the Republican convention, Romney advisers tried gamely to find an upside. Several said that the Eastwood appearance offered a moment of improvisation in a convention that was otherwise surprise-free.

Michael D. Shear contributed reporting from Tampa, and Michael Cieply from Los Angeles.